If you are a Wayniac, it is time to be concerned about the health of Wayne Newton, whose ongoing physical maladies have forced him to cancel his annual holiday shows at Harrah’s. He was to have headlined there November 15 through December 29, but Newton’s camp informed Harrah’s officials on November 13 that he would be unable to fulfill the final set of shows in a two-year deal he signed with Harrah’s President Don Marrandino.
What is troubling Newton, exactly? A viral infection, specifically cardiomyopathy, an infection of the heart. In an interview earlier this month, Newton described his condition as pneumonia, a recurring problem for the asthmatic entertainer since he was a kid. Newton fell ill during his appearances on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and canceled a series of six one-nighters in October.
He visited his doctor, renowned heart specialist Dr. Michael DeBakey (who was best man at Newton’s marriage to Kathleen McCrone in 1995), for heart tests, but didn’t confirm his heart was the focus of that visit until last week.
Newton will be appearing in a limited role on the Dancing With the Stars U.S. tour, which he is scheduled to join in the first week of January, but his future at Harrah’s remains uncertain. Newton has said he was still negotiating with the hotel for 2008 and still figuring out which dates he could fulfill.
Certainly, the state of his health is going to dominate those talks and determine when, and maybe even if, he’s on the Strip in 2008.